Guerrero: L.A. needs a new generation of Latino leaders — and voters — like Ricardo Guerrero
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Guerrero’s appointment as the city’s new police chief and as a member of the L.A. city council has been lauded by community leaders and politicians, but his controversial tenure as an ex-mayor is being dissected on a national stage by activists and journalists who say he helped dismantle the very principles that guide L.A. government, and has become a scapegoat for a city in meltdown.
“It’s like he has become some sort of scapegoat,” David Hilliard, a former LAPD deputy chief who also served as a deputy mayor under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, told Fox Nation’s Adam Carolla. “Why doesn’t he get a fair trial?”
As with other Latino politicians in the U.S., Guerrero has been a lightning rod within L.A.’s Latino community, and the topic of his leadership’s failures is a hotbed of controversy in the Democratic Party. Guerrero was fired by City Controller Wendy Greuel earlier this month after the Board of Supervisors voted to audit the budget. L.A. residents and other city leaders were incensed by an email Guerrero released in March that called Mayor Eric Garcetti a “snake” and called on voters to oust Garcetti in the May election. Guerrero also allegedly called Garcetti a “dirty politician.”
“I’m happy that he was relieved of duty; I’m happy that he’s getting his day in court,” L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson told Carolla. “I want to know why he was doing what he did to Garcetti and what his intentions were.”
Guerrero, who is Puerto Rican and grew up in the Washington Heights area of Los Angeles, has been linked to two racially charged incidents – one of which occurred before he was sworn in as mayor, says Hilliard. In 2012, as a freshman mayor, Guerrero was caught on video making anti-Semitic comments while talking to the Board of Supervisors.
“He had a long history of making